Chapter 254

Chapter 254

One of the reasons Neo Seoul had been able to achieve such an advanced civilization in a ruined world was its ability to solve problems.

When conquering dungeons or crossing the desert, one encountered countless problems.

Unexpected traps, entirely new types of monsters, powerful barriers, monsters with power beyond imagination.

Each time, Neo Seoul accumulated data and tried to solve the problem.

At times, they failed. At times, they succeeded.

As failure and success repeated, vast amounts of data accumulated, and research results piled up.

The barrier the murderer had spread across the basement storeroom of the restaurant was one of them.

Though the world did not know of it, twenty years ago, a Neo Seoul exploration team had been annihilated while conquering an unnamed dungeon.

At that time, the Dungeon Boss had been a Specter.

A new type of monster, one completely immune to physical attacks.

The raid party, which had no knowledge of Specters whatsoever, had been all but annihilated. There was only one survivor—the lowest-ranking member of the raid party.

Because he had been at the very rear, the lowest-ranking member of the raid party had barely escaped with his life and reported the tragedy to Neo Seoul.

Naturally, Neo Seoul began research into countermeasures against Specters, and after several years of research, they created a barrier that could seal a Specter’s movements.

The barrier Neo Seoul created formed an invisible membrane around the formless Specter and fixed it in place. Not only that, it also disrupted the mana inside the barrier and forced it to collide with the mana contained within the Specter.

As mana clashed against mana, the balance inside the Specter collapsed, and it began to fall apart.

It forcibly extinguished the creature.

In truth, Neo Seoul used this method to eliminate the Specter and successfully conquer the dungeon.

After that, no dungeon with a Specter as its Boss appeared again. The barrier they had created at that time was sealed away in Neo Seoul’s laboratory and forgotten from people’s memories.

After being thoroughly beaten by Levin, the murderer researched a way to deal with him.

He had been insane from the beginning, but once he bore a grudge, he fanatically searched for a way to counter Levin. What he found was the very barrier that had been forgotten from people’s memories.

“Something this pathetic......”

Levin’s face hardened as he tried to escape the barrier.

That was because he felt mana colliding inside his body.

When he tried to move while in Ghost Transformation, the mana inside and outside collided and damaged his body.

The larger his movements became, the fiercer the mana collision grew.

“Urk!”

When the murderer saw red blood trickle down Levin’s lips, he grinned.

“How is it? Feels like your whole body’s being torn apart, doesn’t it?”

“Son of a bitch!”

“That name is sweet no matter how many times I hear it. A name someone else gave me.”

“What the hell does someone have to do to end up broken like you?”

“Broken? I was made this way from the start.”

“Who was it? The bastard who made you......”

“Why, are you going to take revenge if you find out?”

“Yeah! I’ll kill them along with you.”

“Hehe! Such grand ambition. I like it. Maybe you’re the one most similar to me.”

“Crazy bastard! Cut the bullshit.”

“Cut it? But I’m only getting started.”

The murderer drew a large blade from behind his waist.

It had a blunt shape like an elongated butcher’s knife, and its edge was lined with countless serrations.

“This is another masterpiece made by Neo Seoul. A weapon designed to hunt large-class monsters. Its name is Titan Killer. How about it? Isn’t it fucking amazing?”

“Bullshit, son of a bitch!”

Though he spoke that way, Levin was tense.

If he had been in Ghost Transformation, a weapon like that would have posed no threat at all. But now that his Ghost Transformation ability had been sealed, it had become a serious threat.

At that moment, Levin let out a faint laugh.

‘Fuck! Since when did I need Ghost Transformation to fight?’

Even before awakening, he had fought countless times.

He had never fought a monster like the murderer, but he was thoroughly used to fighting humans.

His muscles had been torn, and his bones had been broken more than once.

He had endured all that pain with a clear mind.

After gaining Ghost Transformation, he had no reason to go through such brutal fights, so he had forgotten for a moment.

He had forgotten how fiercely he had lived.

“Son of a bitch! Repeat after me: you’re dead today. I’m not letting you leave alive.”

Levin released Ghost Transformation.

Seeing Levin take on a corporeal form, the murderer smiled coldly.

That was because he had succeeded in sealing his opponent’s greatest weapon.

As he approached Levin, he said,

“I’ll slice you up nicely and put you on display.”

“What a load of bullshit.”

Levin sneered and walked toward the murderer.

Fortunately, the barrier did not affect people with corporeal bodies, and it had no effect on him.

Now, the conditions were even.

A stage had been created where only the stronger, more vicious one could survive.

“Hee-hee! Let’s begin, pretty boy!”

WHOOSH—!

The murderer grinned and swung Titan Killer.

Levin lowered his head and avoided Titan Killer by a hair’s breadth. The back of his head felt cold as Titan Killer passed by.

If it had so much as grazed him, his flesh would have been torn away on the spot.

It truly was a vicious weapon.

Levin immediately counterattacked.

CRACKLE!

When he unleashed Purple Lightning, electric current also flowed from the murderer’s body.

The electric generator attached to his mechanical prosthetic arm had activated.

BANG, BANG, BANG—!

Purple current and white current collided, and all the electrical devices in the basement storeroom burst apart.

Levin was a Grade B Awakened.

By contrast, the murderer had only been around Grade D.

Since he had said with his own mouth that his Grade had risen, he was probably Grade C now.

Naturally, Levin should have overwhelmed him. Even so, the murderer was holding out well against Levin’s Purple Lightning.

Levin realized the reason.

“You covered yourself in items.”

“Hehe! You only figured that out now?”

The murderer mocked Levin.

Everything he wore was a special item made in a workshop. Created by synthesizing monster by-products with advanced materials, they possessed tremendous resistance to electric current.

Because of that, Levin’s attacks barely damaged him.

‘This crazy bastard......’

Levin gritted his teeth.

A properly insane man was even clever.

He was the worst kind of enemy.

It was enough to make Levin wonder what kind of laboratory had created such a being.

SQUELCH—!

At that moment, tremendous pain surged from his thigh.

Titan Killer, swung by the murderer, had wounded him.

A chunk of muscle the size of a child’s fist was torn out of his thigh, and an enormous amount of blood poured out.

‘Stupid......’

Blaming himself for letting his guard down, Levin retreated. He intended to tear his clothes and stop the bleeding. But the murderer did not allow Levin to staunch the blood.

The murderer had a hyena-like nature, tearing persistently once he found a weakness.

Moreover, because he remembered being thoroughly beaten by Levin, he never let his guard down.

“Hehe! Die!”

The murderer attacked Levin with Titan Killer.

Levin rolled across the floor and unleashed Purple Lightning. But once again, it did not inflict any damage on the murderer. Even so, Levin was not disappointed.

Thanks to that, he had bought a little time.

CRACKLE!

Levin burned his own thigh with lightning outright.

His flesh burned under the high-voltage current, and acrid smoke rose.

Since he could not stop the bleeding properly, he had cauterized his own flesh instead.

The murderer looked dumbfounded.

“This crazy bastard......”

“If I’m going to catch a madman, I have to go mad too.”

Madness had already settled over Levin’s face.

The madness was so vicious that even the murderer was sickened by it.

“You nasty bastard!”

“Thanks for the compliment, son of a bitch!”

Levin attacked the murderer.

CRASH—!

The two clashed again.

---

THUD! THOOOM!

The entire building housing the restaurant shook as though an earthquake had struck.

“What the hell?”

“Damn it!”

The people inside the building were startled and all rushed outside.

THOOOM!

The sight of the building looking as though it might collapse at any moment made people turn pale.

Just then—

BOOM—!

With an explosive roar, the wall of Jeonghui Restaurant blew apart.

Fortunately, the disaster of the entire building collapsing did not occur, but Jeonghui Restaurant and the street around it were completely devastated.

“Aaagh!”

“It’s an explosion. Report it!”

“Hurry and notify the control room.”

At the sudden explosion, people panicked and scattered in every direction.

Meanwhile, two people rose from within the devastated Jeonghui Restaurant.

They were Levin and the murderer, who had been fighting in the basement storeroom.

The sight of them barely managing to stand was horrific.

Their entire bodies were burned or torn apart, making them look as though they had bathed in blood.

It was a wonder they were still alive after suffering such grievous wounds.

“F......uck!”

THUD!

The murderer, who had been glaring at Levin, suddenly dropped to his knees. A giant blade was piercing through his chest.

It was Titan Killer, the weapon he had been using.

After a desperate deathmatch, Levin had seized the murderer’s weapon and stabbed him through the chest.

“Haa! Haa!”

Only then did Levin fall to one knee, gasping harshly.

His physical condition was just as horrific as the murderer’s. It was a wonder he was still alive. Even so, he did not take his eyes off the murderer.

That was because he felt that if he looked away even for a moment, the murderer would flee.

The battle inside the basement storeroom had been brutal.

The murderer had filled the basement storeroom with every sort of trap and weapon.

Every moment had been a crisis.

At decisive moments, the murderer had activated traps and attacked Levin. Each time, Levin had faced a brush with death. But in the end, the victor was Levin.

He had succeeded in seizing Titan Killer and stabbing it into the murderer’s chest.

The murderer, pierced through by the enormous Titan Killer, was vomiting blood in great heaves.

No matter how tenacious the murderer’s cockroach-like vitality was, he could not survive such a wound.

“Khehe! Cough!”

As though unable to believe his own situation, the murderer laughed, then coughed up blood.

Chunks of flesh were mixed into the blood he vomited.

Levin crawled toward the murderer.

“Son......of a bitch! Try running away again.”

“Hehe! I don’t have......the strength to run anymore. You won, kid!”

“Won? You think I fought to win? I’m taking revenge. Where the hell is there winning or losing in revenge, you son of a bitch?”

“Maybe not for you, but it was different for me. I had fun. Hehe! It’s been a long time since my blood boiled like that.”

“I’ll ask one last time. Where is the laboratory you said you came from?”

“Why, are you going to take revenge for me?”

“Revenge? Who the hell are you that I’d take revenge for you? I’m just curious. I want to know what kind of insane bastards created a monster like you.”

“Should I......tell you? Then will you let me live?”

At that moment, Levin grabbed Titan Killer’s handle and twisted it.

“Aaaargh!”

At the electrifying agony, the murderer let out a terrible scream.

“Forget it, son of a bitch. Forgive you just for telling me that? Don’t make me laugh. I’ll find out with my own power.”

“Hehe! Fuck.”

“Just fall into hell.”

SQUELCH—!

Levin pulled Titan Killer out of the murderer’s chest. His heart was shredded by the serrated blade, and an enormous amount of blood poured out.

The murderer looked at Levin with a smiling face, then toppled forward. That was his end.

Levin used Titan Killer as a cane and stood.

After staring at the murderer’s corpse for a moment, Levin raised Titan Killer high.

He intended to cut off his head.

Just then—

“Stop there.”

Someone’s voice from behind tried to halt his action.

Without even turning around, Levin answered,

“Fuck off!”

SLASH—!

Titan Killer swept through the murderer’s neck.